Posts Tagged by Texas
It’s Fashionable To Hate Government, But…
| January 31, 2012 | Posted by Craig Shields under Renewables - Politics |
Here’s a good article for those interested in global climate change and the role of government in our lives. Journalist Christian Parenti points out that private sector interests alone will do very poorly in dealing with the enormity of the challenge facing us all in the form of extreme weather events created by global warming.
He notes, for instance, that 2011 was the driest year in the recording history of Texas, resulting in wildfires that consumed more than four million acres. He points out that the cost of repairing the damage to the thousands of homes and buildings, and rebuilding the agriculture businesses lost in the fires, is an estimated $5.2 billion—not something that the private sector can easily absorb. And of course, the Texas drought was just one of many individual extreme weather events whose frequency is expected to increase over time.
For my money, Parenti does an excellent job in putting this issue in perspective: it’s fashionable to hate government, but without some teeth in the public sector, our planet will soon lie in ruins.
Related posts:
Is Senator Schumer Killing Jobs and Renewable Energy Momentum?
| March 18, 2010 | Posted by Craig Shields under Wind Energy |
Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) introduced controversial legislation on March 3, 2010 that could affect renewable energy and specifically wind. He says that stimulus money is going abroad and wants to suspend the program; his legislation wants the law fixed so all funds stay in the U.S. If this legislation passes, stimulus funds will have a “Buy American” clause that applies to any government project that is awarded funding.
Schumer specifically took aim at a large wind farm project in Texas. Announced last October, the project is a joint venture between Texas-based Cielo Wind Power, China’s Shenyang Power Group and the U.S. Renewable Energy Group. Cielo and U.S. Renewable Energy Group own 51% of the joint-venture. The project is expected to cost about $1.5 billion, and would be one of the largest wind farms in the U.S. When complete, the 600 MW project could generate enough electricity for 180,000 homes.
Cielo President Walt Hornaday said the company has not applied for stimulus funds, and that at least 70 percent of each turbine will be manufactured in the U.S. Vice Mayor Yang Yazhou oversees environmental protection and economic growth in the city of Shenyang. He said in a press release on October 29th, 2009 that the project would demonstrate “…how the two countries can share both the risks and the benefits in a huge wind power project.” (Reuters, Washington D.C., October 29, 2009).
On the morning of March 12th, plans were announced that two of the players Schumer has targeted, U.S. Renewable Energy Group and A-Power Energy Generation Systems, Ltd. (a shareholder in Shenyang Power and China’s leading provider of power generation systems) are to build a large wind turbine plant in Nevada along with America Nevada Group. The 320,000 +/- square foot property would employ about 1,000 Nevada workers. It would supply turbines for the Texas Cielo joint venture project as well as supply customers in North and South America. (Las Vegas Sun, “Plant to Bring Green-job Windfall”, by Stephanie Tavares. March 12, 2010). Will this news dampen the firestorm started by Schumer?
Read More
